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Using AI As
3 role hubs · 7 tasksData privacy

Plain guides to using AI in your day job, UK rules included

Using AI as partof the job you do.

Pick your role, pick a task, and follow numbered steps with prompts you can copy as written. The numbers and decisions stay with your own systems and people; AI drafts the words, the structure and the formulas.

Open the finance hubSee the P&L guide
Written by Founder of Adapt Progress Evolve · 13 years of finance experience

Role board

8 roles · 3 live
Each hub: what to hand over first, what never to paste in, then task guides. All roles and tasks
  • Revenue £1,289,751 Year to date, two revenue lines
  • Gross profit £426,406 33.1% gross margin
  • Overheads £369,267 8 overhead lines
  • Net profit before tax £50,683 3.9% of revenue

Northfold Joinery Ltd · Year ended 31 March 2026 (April 2025 to March 2026)

Northfold Joinery Ltd (fictional) profit and loss for the year to March 2026: revenue £1,289,751, gross profit £426,406 at 33.1% gross margin, net profit before tax £50,683, with losses in August and December.
FICTIONAL EXAMPLE COMPANYChecked by script: every P&L cell evaluated from the workbook's formulas (pycel) and compared with an independent Python recompute; 0 mismatches.

Three checks that must pass, plus one

4 of 4 OK
  • TB nets to zero in every monthOK
  • Unmapped codes0
  • P&L ties to TB, difference0.00
  • Gross margin in range 30–45%OK

Gross margin by month

Check 4 · range 30–45% · OK
Aug-25 27.4%Dec-25 28.4%
  • Gross margin %
  • 30% floor of the check range
Gross margin by month, Northfold Joinery Ltd (fictional), Apr-25 to Mar-26
MonthGross margin
Apr-2534.3%
May-2533.1%
Jun-2533.5%
Jul-2532.1%
Aug-2527.4%
Sep-2533.2%
Oct-2534.8%
Nov-2534.3%
Dec-2528.4%
Jan-2633.4%
Feb-2633.7%
Mar-2635.2%
Open the guide: P&L with AI, from a trial balance

The data-privacy promise

Before you paste anything: green, amber or red.

Before you paste anything, ask two questions: is there personal data in it, and is it confidential to my organisation or a client? If the answer to either is yes, use a tool your organisation has approved, under a business contract, and send only what the task needs.

Green · fine to share

Give it structure, not identities

Codes, headings, layouts, policy wording and your own notes with names taken out are usually enough. Customer names, staff names and bank details almost never are.

Ask for the formula, the template or the draft, not the answer. A formula you can test or a draft you can edit is checkable. A total typed back into a chat window is not.

Amber · approved tools only

Real data goes in an approved business tier

If it is your organisation's or a client's information, use the tool your organisation has approved, under its contract, not a personal account.

Under a business contract the provider usually acts as your processor. On a personal account you are agreeing to its consumer terms instead.

Red · never in a consumer tool

Never paste these into a personal AI account

  • Payroll reports, salaries by name, bank details or National Insurance numbers
  • Named employee records: health, absence, grievance or disciplinary details
  • Customer or supplier ledgers with names attached
  • Unpublished results, forecasts or board papers
  • Anything a client has given you
  • Passwords, API keys or bank logins (in any tool, ever)
UK GDPR, in four lines
  1. Send the minimum. UK GDPR's data minimisation principle says personal data must be adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary for the purpose. For most tasks on this site, the personal data the AI needs is none. 1ICO: The data minimisation principleico.org.uk
  2. Know who is controller and who is processor. Under a business contract, the AI provider usually acts as your processor. On a personal consumer account, you are agreeing to the provider's own consumer terms instead. 2ICO: Controllers and processorsico.org.uk
  3. Check where the data goes. Many AI services process data outside the UK. Restricted transfers need safeguards, which a business agreement usually addresses and a personal sign-up does not. 3ICO: International transfersico.org.uk
  4. The ICO has AI-specific guidance. It covers accountability, transparency, accuracy and security when organisations use AI with personal data. 4ICO: Guidance on AI and data protectionico.org.uk
Confidentiality
  • Your employment contract almost certainly includes a duty of confidentiality, and your organisation may have an AI policy. Read both before you start.
  • Client information belongs to the client. If you work in practice, confidentiality is one of the fundamental principles in professional codes such as ICAEW's. 5ICAEW Code of Ethics (confidentiality is a fundamental principle)www.icaew.com
  • Commercially sensitive information (pricing, margins, unpublished results, deal work) counts even when it contains no personal data.
Consumer plans vs business tiersChecked 1 October 2026
AI tool tiers and whether your data trains models
ProviderPersonal plansBusiness and enterprise
OpenAI (ChatGPT)Check settingsPersonal plans: conversations can be used to train models unless you turn off "Improve the model for everyone" in Settings > Data controls.Not trained on by defaultChatGPT Business, Enterprise, Edu and the API: not used to improve models by default.6OpenAI Help Centre: How your data is used to improve model performancehelp.openai.com7OpenAI: Enterprise privacy at OpenAIopenai.com
Anthropic (Claude)Check settingsFree, Pro and Max: chats are used to train models only when the model-improvement setting is on. With it on, data is kept for up to five years; with it off, the standard is 30 days.Not trained on by defaultClaude for Work and the API: inputs and outputs are not used to train models by default.8Anthropic: Updates to Consumer Terms and Privacy Policywww.anthropic.com9Anthropic Privacy Center: Is my data used for model training? (consumer)privacy.claude.com10Anthropic Privacy Center: Is my data used for model training? (commercial)privacy.claude.com
Microsoft (Copilot)Check settingsPersonal Microsoft accounts are covered by Microsoft's consumer terms, not your organisation's.Processor under DPACopilot and Copilot Chat used through an organisation: covered by Microsoft's Data Protection Addendum with Microsoft as processor; your data is not used to train foundation models.11Microsoft Learn: Enterprise data protection in Microsoft Copilot and Copilot Chatlearn.microsoft.com12Microsoft Learn: Data, privacy and security for Microsoft Copilotlearn.microsoft.com
Checked 1 October 2026. Providers change their terms; read the live page and your organisation's contract before relying on this table.

Sources for this section

12
  1. ICO: The data minimisation principleico.org.uk1
  2. ICO: Controllers and processorsico.org.uk2
  3. ICO: International transfersico.org.uk3
  4. ICO: Guidance on AI and data protectionico.org.uk4
  5. ICAEW Code of Ethics (confidentiality is a fundamental principle)icaew.com5
  6. OpenAI Help Centre: How your data is used to improve model performancehelp.openai.com6
  7. OpenAI: Enterprise privacy at OpenAIopenai.com7
  8. Anthropic: Updates to Consumer Terms and Privacy Policyanthropic.com8
  9. Anthropic Privacy Center: Is my data used for model training? (consumer)privacy.claude.com9
  10. Anthropic Privacy Center: Is my data used for model training? (commercial)privacy.claude.com10
  11. Microsoft Learn: Enterprise data protection in Microsoft Copilot and Copilot Chatlearn.microsoft.com11
  12. Microsoft Learn: Data, privacy and security for Microsoft Copilotlearn.microsoft.com12

Task queue

Every task guide, by role.

Each guide carries the steps, the prompts, a checkpoint after every step and a sign-off checklist. Filter by role.

7 of 7 shown
Task guides
TaskRoleDifficultyFile
AI for bank reconciliation: the finance-team processLet your accounting software match first. Use AI on the leftovers, from descriptions only: likely explanations, queries, Excel comparison formulas and the checklist. A person approves and posts.FinanceBeginner–
AI cash-flow forecasting: a weekly forecast you can defendAI builds the weekly grid, the SUMIFS formulas and the assumptions wording. Every number comes from your aged debtors, aged creditors, payroll, PAYE and VAT dates and the bank balance.FinanceIntermediate–
ChatGPT and Xero: what connects and what to exportXero has a plugin in ChatGPT (live since 15 September 2026), a read-only connector in Claude, and a developer MCP server with write access. Otherwise, export a report and strip the identifiers.FinanceBeginner–
P&L with AI: build one from a trial balanceMap each nominal code to a P&L line once and let SUMIFS build the P&L every month. AI proposes the mapping and writes formulas; Excel does the arithmetic; three checks tie it to the TB.FinanceIntermediateTemplate
Job descriptions with ChatGPT (and Claude or Copilot)Give AI your own notes on the role and get a structured job description and person specification. Split essential from desirable, check the wording for bias, and set pay yourself.HRBeginner–
HR policies with ChatGPT: draft, check against UK law, approveAI drafts the structure and plain-English wording from what you already say. The legal minimums come from GOV.UK and Acas, never the AI, and a named person approves the final policy.HRIntermediate–
AI for performance reviews: write-ups, not judgementsUse AI to turn a manager's own anonymised notes into a balanced review, check the language and tighten SMART objectives. The rating and any decision stay with the manager.HRBeginner–

Who writes this

Jack Stovell

Founder of Adapt Progress Evolve · 13 years of finance experience

I'm Jack Stovell, founder of Adapt Progress Evolve. I've spent 13 years in finance: month-end closes, management accounts, budgets and a lot of spreadsheets. That's why the finance pages go further than the rest, because that's the work I know.

The HR and office admin hubs are different, and I'd rather say so plainly. They're built from the primary sources each page cites, not from experience working in HR or office management. If you work in those jobs and spot something that doesn't match how it really goes, tell me at hello@usingaias.com. I'd rather fix it than leave it.

Publisher
Adapt Progress Evolve Limited
Author
Jack Stovell
Experience
13 years of finance experience
Privacy rules checked
Example data
Fictional companies only

Questions

What people ask first. Every answer open.

Short answers from the role hubs. Each hub lists its sources.

Something missing, or out of date? Tell the author.

Email hello@usingaias.com

Finance 2

Can accountants use ChatGPT for finance work?
Yes, for words, formulas, structure and checklists: Excel formulas, working-paper templates, queries to budget holders and commentary drafts. The numbers come from the ledger and the bank, and a person checks, approves and posts.
What should a finance team hand over to AI first?
Excel formulas and spreadsheet structure, described by column headings without pasting the data. Checklists and working-paper templates come next. Both are low risk and easy to check.

HR 2

Can I use ChatGPT for HR work?
Yes, for drafting: job descriptions, policy wording, template letters, interview question banks and review write-ups. A person checks and approves every draft, and decisions about people stay human.
Is it legal to use AI to screen job applicants in the UK?
It can be, but if a significant decision such as rejecting someone is based solely on automated processing, UK GDPR Articles 22A to 22D require safeguards: telling the person, letting them make representations, get human intervention and contest the decision. Equality Act discrimination risk applies too.

Office managers 2

What should an office manager hand to AI first?
Email drafts and replies from your own bullet points. The facts are yours and only the phrasing is handed over, so it's the lowest-risk place to start. Meeting notes into actions and desk instructions come next.
Can Copilot write emails in Outlook?
Yes. Microsoft 365 Copilot in Outlook can draft a new email from a prompt and summarise an email thread, with numbered citations back to the emails. If you can't access it, Microsoft says to check with your IT admin.